Offshore Species
Yellowfin tuna
Lots of them. Sometimes more rods hooked up than anglers on the boat — and the occasional true giant that ends the day on its own.
The yellowfin tuna fishing here can be incredible. We catch lots and lots of them — and some true giants, including a 290-pounder in February 2025, among many others.
There are times when our guests simply can't catch any more tuna and it's time to go inshore. Sometimes that's because we've caught so many. Sometimes it's because we've tangled with one big fish. Either way, we catch them a variety of ways.
The tuna frenzy
The most exciting spectacle in all of fishing.
The Gulf of Chiriquí is the home of the tuna frenzy. A frenzy happens when tuna stack a school of bait on the surface and crash out of the water to eat it — whitewater and mayhem. When the bait is hanging on floating structure, it's often instant hookups, and there are times when we have more rods bent than anglers aboard. Toss a live bait into the mix or throw poppers around it.
A yellowfin on a popper is a sight everyone should experience at least once. The explosion and that first run are simply epic.
Porpoise & live bait
Running the porpoise — and the perfect bait.
Targeting tuna under pods of porpoise is another great way to catch them. We run and run, putting the boat at the leading edge of the school. Anglers cast poppers and stick baits from the bow while we deploy live blue runners or bonito from the cockpit.
There's perhaps no better bait for big tuna than live bonito — the same bait that catches black and blue marlin, sailfish, big dorado, and even big roosterfish and cubera snapper inshore.
Chunking the fleet
A beer-for-sardines advantage.
We have a good relationship with the local commercial fleet — spare parts here, beer traded for sardines there. In return, they call us in when there's a hot tuna bite. We nose up to the commercial vessel and cast live blue runners into the school, or pull off a bit and deploy chunks of sardine.
We cut sardines into chunks and toss them into the water. After several handfuls of chum, we deploy chunks with hooks in them. We've caught many really big yellowfin on small chunks of sardine — it's highly effective, and getting called to the action saves a lot of time running across the ocean.
In the spread
Yellowfin at the lodge
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